The Only Way Out is Despair
by FirelightKnight
Summary: (SYOC CLOSED) Hope's Peak Middle School had never been as well known as the main academy, but served the same function of the high school everybody knew. So, why leave the students out of all of the despair? Simple answer-you don't!
1. Prologue

I woke up in a chair, in an unfamiliar place.

Was I still dreaming?

I had no idea how I'd gotten there, and looking around, it looked like some place you'd see in a show about criminals. I was in what looked to me like an apartment. It wasn't very large, and seemed to only contain two rooms- a main room, to function as a living area, bedroom, and kitchen, and a bathroom. However, no sunlight entered the room. At first I'd thought it was night time, but I then spotted thick metal plates bolted to the wall.

"The hell..?" I said, standing up.

My name is Yoko Himura, Super Middle School Level Artist, and I could never have guessed how much despair I was about to witness.

* * *

Hey! Shinxy here. I got bored, so I decided to write a DR story! This is a SYOC, and some basic rules will be below. It'll take place in an abandoned apartment building, and most of the kids here will be middle school aged. Because why not? Middle schoolers can be fun too. Anyway, SYOC form and rules!

EDIT: SYOC CLOSED


	2. Chapter 1, part 1

**Yesss, first legit update. Guess what? I've probably got everybody's OCs completely wrong. It doesn't really help that half of them are literally like "Antisocial, but gets friendlier if s/he warms up to you" and stuff. I'm gonna have to make a joke about that. But no biggie.**

**If I got anybody's OC wrong, well, clearly you need to tell me.  
**

**Anyway, mostly just the introductions chapter, with a lot of nodding and standing in corners and shit. And Yoko avoiding childish girls and boasting boys. And plans.  
**

**And JEEZ, the amount of work I've lost because of this crappy computer is KILLING me!**

**ENJOY GUYS!**

**~Shinxy**

* * *

As I wandered about this strange apartment, I noticed things that struck me as odd. The first was that, while there were signs that the place had been empty for quite some time, it was perfectly clean save for a layer of dust on several surfaces, and the mini fridge in the kitchen area was full with fresh groceries, including milk, eggs, fruit and veg, and bottled water. The cupboard next to it contained enough clean dishes to last one person three meals for three days, and more fresh food. Most of it was tinned, but there was also bread and sugar and stuff like that.

That was another thing. The place was fully furnished. Whoever decorated _clearly_ had no taste at all, what with the flowery wallpaper on the walls and the tacky paintings of somebody else's family from about fifty years ago, but there was still furniture. A desk and matching wooden chair, where I'd woken up, a wardrobe containing PJs and a futon, plus a pillow and blankets, a mini fridge, a cupboard, some counters, a kettle, microwave, and stove, and a table with two more chairs around it. There was also a Tv in a strange place(in a corner, right near the ceiling), which appeared to have no remote to it, and for some strange reason, a security camera. The security camera and metal plates bothered me, but other then that, it seemed like a generic ugly apartment.

There was nothing noteworthy about the bathroom, other then the fact that it too was absolutely hideous and some of the tiles looked ready to fall off the walls, so I went to leave the room. I pulled the key from the lock, and then stopped. There was a name on the keychain. _My name._ The bold letters stood out clearly, spelling the name 'Harumi Y.'. I didn't own an apartment. I was fourteen. I lived in a bungalow with my brother and my dad. This was weird. However, standing here doing nothing could get me nowhere, so I pushed it to the back of my mind, pocketed the key, and left the room(The crashing sound I heard as I closed the door confirmed that one of the tiles had indeed fallen off my bathroom wall).

The hallway wasn't nearly as clean as the apartment, with old rickety stairs going up and down, and peeling wallpaper. It also smelled faintly like pee, much to my disgust. Trying to ignore the stench, I noticed a door, opposite to mine. The door had a nameplate attached, with a name I didn't recognize. Some Suzume person. It also had an image of a boy, which I also didn't recognize, although that wasn't saying much since it was a pixel sprite with no color. There was also a doorbell.

I looked behind me at my door, which appeared to be exactly the same, save for the nameplate, which had my name and image on it. Oookaaaay...

Looking down the hall, I saw two more doors, with two more names, with two more sprites I didn't recognize. I had a feeling I'd meet these people soon.

As I went down the rickety stairs, I found a floor filled with locked doors. The only rooms I could access were the girls bathrooms and (presumably, I wasn't about to check) the boys bathrooms. Down the stairs a few more times and I was on the ground floor (Which looked much nicer then the hallways upstairs). I could get in these rooms, but I didn't bother looking much. I just wanted to find people. And so I did, fifteen other middle schoolers, all standing around a room that looked like an entranceway (Including a reception desk and a strange looking metal... was that a door?)

"AH! Another person! HEY NEW PERSON!" Said a girl with ebony black hair, tied back in pigtails.

Immediately everybody turned to the door, where I still stood. Great, they were now all staring at me. I'd better say hello to these guys, then, even though I really wasn't comfortable with being stared at by fifteen strangers.

"Oh, uh.. hey. I'm Yoko. Yoko Himura, Super Middle School Level Artist. Pleased to meet you all..."

* * *

**YOKO HIMURA**

**SMSL ARTIST**

* * *

After I said this, most of the kids turned away and resumed chattering to eachother, although some still had their eyes on me. _Well, I guess there's no harm in talking to them..._

I went to go talk to the nearest person, but stopped. This guy looked absolutely ridiculous. He was probably absolutely crazy. Nobody walks around in a cape and a top hat. I decided to wait until last for him.

I turned around to go talk to someone else, and ended up talking to a boy with long, dark purple, hair tied into a ponytail, a dark violet jacked with it's sleeves rolled up over a brown hoodie, and a bandana on his head.

"Good morning, miss! I'm Hidori Ayasaka, Super Middle School Level Chemist! Pleased to meet you!"

* * *

**HIDORI AYASAKA**

**SMSL CHEMIST**

* * *

Hidori Ayasaka. He had achieved many awards in chemistry at the mere age of ten. I didn't know these things very well, but he was clearly good at what he does.

"So, you go to Hope's Peak Middle School too? I'm a freshman there, or supposed to be.." I said, trying to start up a conversation.

Hidori nodded. "Yeah, we all do. All freshmen there, too, apparently."

"HII! I'M MOMOKO KINOSHITA! Super Middle School Level Designer! You're Yoko-nee, right?!"

I jumped. I wasn't really expecting somebody to start yelling from behind. Apparently, nor was Hidori. I turned around and spotted the girl from before. She was wearing a dress and a chocolate brown messenger bag, and definitely was NOT very mature.

* * *

**MOMOKO KINOSHITA**

**SMSL DESIGNER**

* * *

Yoko-nee..? Yoko would have done just fine, but whatever. Somehow I thought Momoko was going to be VERY annoying.

"Yeah, I guess so? Yoko is just fine, though..."

"Okay, Yoko-nee!"

Screw this chick, I'm getting out of here. I politely said goodbye to Hidori and Momoko and rushed away as soon as possible, ending up in front of the strangly dressed blonde kid from before. Damnit.

"Why hello, miss! My name is Kiyo Yayoi, Super Middle School Level Magician! Behold, my power!"

* * *

**KIYO YAYOI**

**SMSL MAGICIAN**

* * *

A magician. That kind of explained the clothes?

"So uh, you know magic..?"

"Indeed I do! PREPARE TO BE AMAZED!" Kiyo said dramatically.

I take back everything I said about Momoko. Kiyo wasn't that much better. Still, he was a person, and deserved to be treated as such. Even if he was coming off as annoying, and probably a huge fraud. I couldn't just run off without at least giving a reason.

"I...see." I said lamely. "Well, I've, uh, got to go talk to everybody else now, so, uh, bye"

Kiyo stared for a moment, before nodding. At this point I turned around and scanned the room. There were two girls talking near the metal door thing. They seemed sane enough. After Momoko and Kiyo, I was beginning to think Hidori would be the only sane person here. Thank goodness.

As I approached them, one of them(Who was probably the oldest person here) looked up. As she did that, the other did too. The older one, wearing the typical white sailor-girl uniform with a brown knee-length skirt.

"Haruna Takahashi. You're Himura-san, right?"

I nodded. "What did you get into Hopes Peak for?" I asked, mostly out of curiosity.

"I'm a soccer player." Haruna said. "And Shirahane-san's a Track Runner"

* * *

**HARUNA TAKAHASHI**

**SMSL SOCCER PLAYER**

* * *

"Merii Shirahane. You already know what I do." Said the other girl, who was wearing a navy blue tank top, a green polo shirt, and fuschia skinny jeans.

* * *

**MERII SHIRAHANE**

**SMSL TRACK RUNNER**

* * *

I never really liked sports, myself. Too much mud and sweat, and you never really gain much from it. Well, maybe Haruna and Merii did, I couldn't be too sure. I just didn't get any enjoyment out of it myself. Still, I had heard of Haruna many times before. My older brother and my dad were big soccer fans, they had talked about the players many times. Apparently, Haruna had already won at least two tournaments, despite only being fifteen.

Merii, I had never heard of. Clearly she was good at running, but that's all I could say about her.

"Thank god for some sane people here. I was just talking to Kiyo. He did come across as a bit boastful, at the very least.." I said. It wasn't very nice to talk badly of somebody I'd just met, but I'd make my escape soon enough. As I did with everybody else. I kinda wanted to sit down and draw as soon as I figured out what the hell was up.

"A bit? More like a lot. He kept saying things like 'PREPARE TO BEHOLD MY POWER!' and stuff" Merii said.

I glanced over to where Kiyo was standing. He was talking to Momoko, who was apparently impressed as he kept moving into dramatic poses. I rolled my eyes.

"Well, whatever. I have people to talk to. See you around" I said, moving on to the next person.

There was a boy, standing alone, off to the side. I decided to talk to him next. He had short black hair and a plain grey shirt with a jacket over it.

"Hey" I said to him, catching his attention.

"Oh, hi. I'm Shima Hisagamaru. Super Middle School Level Origamist. Shima is fine though..."

* * *

**SHIMA HISAGAMARU**

**SMSL ORIGAMIST**

* * *

Shima Hisagamaru was yet another name I had not heard. Although I doubt anybody could blame me, making origami doesn't really make you famous. Origamists made origami, right? Was 'Origamist' even an actual word? Whatever. He still seemed okay, even though he was pretty quiet.

"Origamists make origami, right?" I asked conversationally. Shima nodded.

"That's cool" I said. Shima nodded again. I probably wasn't getting anything out of this, so I decided to leave.

"Okay, well I need to go now. It was nice meeting you. Shima nodded, again.

"Nice meeting you" he said.

I looked around once more, and spotted two more boys, one talking to the other, who was listening in silence. They'd do. I walked over and greeted them.

"Yo! The name's Mike Radley, the Super Middle School Level Rapper! And that's Toshikazu Soga, but that's all I can get outta the fucking guy." Said the first

* * *

**MICHEAL RADLEY**

**SMSL RAPPER**

* * *

**TOSHIKAZU SOGA**

**SMSL ?**

* * *

Still hadn't heard of them. Even worse, Soga wouldn't even give out a Super Middle School Level? Jesus, how reserved can one guy be?

Soga stared at me in silence. Okay, that's kind of creepy.

"Ignore him, the guy spends all his fuckin' time staring at people then that's his problem." Mike said.

"All words lose their value after being said too many times" Soga finally said.

"The guy speaks! It's a fuckin' miracle! Jeez, does it hurt to talk even a little?!" Mike said.

I looked at Soga. He'd probably be easier to just leave alone. I said my goodbyes to Mike and wandered off, eventually ending up in front of a girl with short orange hair.

"Oh, hey" I said politely. "What's your name?"

"Suzume Takenaka, I'm a Journalist" she said.

* * *

**SUZUME TAKENAKA**

**SMSL JOURNALIST**

* * *

Journalism was yet another weak spot for me. I don't read newspapers, nor does anybody I really know. Most of the ones we got are full of advertisements for cereal boxes or clothing stores, which of are no interest to me. But I wouldn't say that out loud.

"Nice to meet you then!" I said.

Suzume nodded. "Me too"

I looked around. I still had five more students to greet.

"I'd better go speak to the others..." I said, sighing. "See you around"

As I continued to look through the crowd, I came across another girl, with long black hair, who was reading a book in a corner. I greeted her as per usual, and she greeted me back, as usual.

"Oh, hi. My names Mizuki Hamasaki. I'm the Super Middle School Level Student"

* * *

**MIZUKI HAMASAKI**

**SMSL STUDENT**

* * *

Mizuki smiled politely and turned back to her book. I tried looking at the title, but I didn't even understand the language. Well, I guess it made sense for her to be smart, if her talent was being a student. I decided to just leave her to her book. I didn't like being interrupted while I was drawing, so why should I interrupt her reading?

I scanned the room, AGAIN. This was getting kind of dull. I decided to talk to a girl on the other side of the room. She was a blonde girl, just a little shorter then me, and had several small burns on her arms. Ow.

"Hello? May I ask your name?" I said. The girl turned her head to look at me.

"Miki Oonishi." She said bluntly.

"Super Middle School Level..?"

"Glassblower."

* * *

**MIKI OONISHI**

**SMSL GLASSBLOWER**

* * *

"Are you happy now? We need to hurry up with introductions so we can work on getting out of here" Miki said. Wow, rude much?

"Unless you don't want to leave" She added, turning back away. Jesus, why was everybody here so rude?

Once more was I looking for people I hadn't yet spoken to. Just four kids now. One of which was, guess what? Standing to the side. Of fucking course. Apparently the middle of the room just isn't good enough.

I dodged past Momoko(Who was now at the desk, spinning on the office chair like a seven year old("WHEEEEEEEEE!") and receiving glares from Soga) and Kiyo(Who was showing off to whoever would listen("PREPARE FOR HAVING YOUR PANTS AMAZED OFF!" "...Eh?")) so I could talk to him. Better get this over with.

"Hey!" I said, just as I did with everybody else in the room.

"Hey! Name's Tetsuya Arakashi, but Tetsuya's fine, I guess. Super Middle School Level Mechanic, if you're wondering."

* * *

**TETSUYA ARAKASHI**

**SMSL MECHANIC**

* * *

Tetsuya said this would-be-cheerful introduction with a mood-ruining serious expression on his face. Which made it somewhat hilarious to watch, even if somewhat uncomfortable. I tried not to laugh.

"Pleased to meet you!" I said.

Tetsuya just glared. Yep, not getting shit out of this guy either. Screw this, where were those other three.

I looked around for them, not that that's all that surprising or exiting. I ended up with a girl who, at first, I thought was a boy. Very short hair, plain t-shirt, sneakers, you get the idea. Of course I said hello. Why wouldn't I? I did exactly that with everybody else.

"Hello" She said plainly. "I'm Kaharu Tachibana, I'm a linguist"

* * *

**KOHARU TACHIBANA**

**SMSL LINGUIST**

* * *

Well, she didn't seem too bad. Thank god, We went from strange to just plain rude waaay too fast.

"So do you think we're trapped here? I don't believe I have a plan for if we're trapped in an apartment complex" Koharu said.

"I dunno. The metal plates seem to suggest we are..." I replied.

Koharu frowned. "I'll have to think of a plan for that, then." She said.

"I'll leave you to it then" I said, moving along to the next person, another blonde boy, with scars on his face. You know the drill. I go up and say hello, ect. ect.

"Oh, hello. My name's Gethin Takeo, the Super Middle School Level Street Fighter!" The boy said.

* * *

**GETHIN TAKEO**

**SMSL STREET FIGHTER**

* * *

"I really don't like the look of those iron plates... Do they really want to keep us in? Or keep something out? Not cool! Where's all the freedom?!" Gethin complained.

"I don't know, mate. Although if somebody puts up giant metal plates over the windows and installs security cameras everywhere, I doubt they really care about how free we are" I pointed out.

Gethin glared at me. Apparently that wasn't really the best thing to say.

"Well I don't care! I'm LEAVING this place!" He said. I figured I'd best make my leave.

The last person, another boy, stood in yet another corner. No surprise. I braced myself for some yelling as I greeted this guy, but didn't receive any.

"Oh.. hey. Scott Allis, Crafter."

* * *

**SCOTT ALLIS**

**SMSL CRAFTER**

* * *

I tried talking to Scott for a while. Which was slightly difficult, because he was pretty shy. So eventually, I gave up. Well, only partially because of that. The other part was because Koharu was trying to get everybody's attention. She'd made Momoko get off the chair and had stood by the desk shouting over the crowd. It took her a few minutes to get everybody to pay attention to her though.

"Okay guys! I've been thinking, what if we're trapped her? I mean, it sure looks that way, right? So we need a plan" Koharu said. "So I thought for a while, and I think that the best thing to do right now is figure out what's happening. Which means we need to explore where we are. If anybody knows anything, now's the time to speak up!"

"We're in a fucking apartment complex, duh!" Mike said.

"And most of the doors are locked" Gethin added.

"We all know that!" Miki snapped.

"Is that it? Right then. I'd advise splitting up, maybe into small groups, or you can go alone. I don't care. Meet back here in about an hour, then?" Koharu said. After getting a few slightly annoyed grunts of agreement from several people, Koharu dismissed us all, and slowly, the crowd dispersed, leaving me alone.

There was nothing to gain from sitting idly, so I left the room.

Across the hall from the entrance room was a door, with a sign saying 'Cafe' on it. I could start there.

It looked like a generic cafeteria. Several tables, with metal seats around them, a door in the back that probably led to a kitchen, and extraordinarily large iron plates over what was presumably a large window. Goddamnit, why was every window covered up? Can't we have a bit of sun? Did they expect us to break the window and jump out? ..Actually, if they did, they'd probably be right. Damnit. Of course, we weren't actually trapped here, right? Surely somebody would notice if somebody smacked sixteen middle schoolers alongside the head and hauled them off to some abandoned building, right? Besides, _why _would anybody want to do that in the first place? Hahah, it was probably just a hoax. I laughed at myself. Here I was, panicking like an idiot over a hoax.

"What're you laughing about?" Mike asked me. I didn't realize I wasn't alone. Tetsuya was there too, but he was ignoring me and Mike. I decided against approaching him.

"Myself. I was freaking out over the cameras and the metal plates, but then I just realized that nobody would get away with locking up sixteen kids for no reason" I told him.

"Oh. Should have fucking thought of that. Even if it is real though, the feds'll make a load of fuckin' noise. It won't last long" He said. I nodded in agreement and entered the kitchen.

The kitchen was pretty boring. A fridge, a freezer, oven, the general stuff. There were also knives that were unnecessarily sharp put in plain sight, and a huge toasting fork you'd use for a barbeque hanging on the wall. Why anybody would need such a big toasting fork I would never know, especially since we couldn't have a barbeque inside. Momoko was standing there, glaring at me.

"Arfh ygho ghongh to shtelf mrfh coofks?!" She said, her mouth obviously full.

"Eh?" I asked. Momoko swallowed and repeated herself.

"Are you going to steal my cookies?! Don't you dare!" She yelled.

Why would I steal her cookies? And anyway, they technically aren't her's to begin with.

"Why would I do that?" I said.

"Because everybody likes cookies!" She snapped. Whatever, I don't care. I just left the room.

Next in line was the toilets. Pretty generic, no surprise. Three small toilet stalls and a sink. What was I even doing in there? I saw literally no reason for me to be there. So I left.

There was a laundry room next to the boy's bathroom, so I went in there. Mizuki and Haruna were there too.

"Hey! Haruna! Mizuki! Find anything?" I called to them.

"Just a bunch of washing machines and magazines" Haruna said. "Nothing worth spending time here for. What about you?"

I shook my head. "The cafe and bathroom are boring, really." I said simply.

"Not surprising. This whole place is pretty generic looking, isn't it?" Mizuki said.

I glanced around. "Yeah. Pee-smell in the hall outside of the hideous apartment? Pretty normal to me. Minus the iron plates bolted onto the wall."

I nodded politely and left them to it, trying to find a room nobody else had been to yet.

I turned into the entranceway, only to find Koharu looking around in there. I didn't really understand why I went there to begin with, since everybody had seen the place when we first met. There was a desk, with an office chair, some shelves with room numbers on them, a giant metal door, and iron plates. I did however notice that the two security cameras by the door had huge guns attached. That was...unsettling. I quietly left Koharu to look through the details.

There was a trash room by the stairs, containing an incinerator and a few dumpsters. Shima was there, but he was about to leave. I gave him a quick hello before entering.  
The room wasn't all that big, just large enough for three people, two dumpsters, and the incinerator. The incinerator was operated by a button. Press the green one and it turns on. Press the red one and it turns off. Simple enough. The dumpsters were completely empty. Why I looked into them to begin with was beyond me.

Next to the trash room was the last room on the ground floor, the supply closet. It was dark, and there was no light switch, so I could hardy see. However, I could see a mop and bucket, a broom, and several jugs of something. I picked one up. Turned out to be bleach, no surprise there. However it did have some kind of 'HIGHLY TOXIC' label on it.

I went to go upstairs, but was stopped. One of the monitors turned on, displaying a static screen with a silhouette of...something on it, and a light-hearted voice rang out through the halls. Kiyo, who was just down the hall, jumped in surprise and started looking around desperately for a source.

"Ahem, ahem! Testing, 1, 2, 3! Ah yes! I would _beary_ much appreciate it if you kids came to the reception room right NOW!" Said the voice. Okay, that was a shitty pun. Puns in general were shit.

I was the last one there, again. Probably because I was farthest away. The room was filled with the chatting of teenagers. Some of them were curious, some worried, some even scared. Gethin opened his mouth to speak to me. However, I was spared of having to listen to him but what I would call a rather bizarre.

As if on cue, the chatter died down, and all eyes turned to the desk. Suddenly, something jumped up from behind it. A half-black, half-white stuffed bear.

* * *

**Okay, I am way too tired to do anything else now. I just REALLY want this out there. It's also pretty rushed.  
**

** Again, please tell me if anybody's character is wrong.**

**Next time- Monobear. Stay tuned! (Well, you don't have to)**


End file.
